Techie murder mystery deepens, autopsy report mum on rape

The post-mortem report states that Anuhya was hit on her head with a sharp object, which led to her death.

The post-mortem report states that Anuhya was hit on her head with a sharp object.

A post-mortem report received by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Kurla, which is probing the murder of techie Esther Anuhya, a native of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, is inconclusive on whether the victim was raped. A forensic report on the analysis of a bedcover recovered from the spot where Anuhya’s body was found also states there were no traces of blood stains and semen particles on it.

The post-mortem report states that Anuhya was hit on her head with a sharp object, which led to her death, but it could not be confirmed whether the weapon used was a stone or a rod.

Doctors who conducted the post mortem on the TCS software engineer’s body have said that because the body was dumped in a marshy land and had decomposed by the time it was found, it was difficult to find out whether she was raped. The doctors have told the police they found injury marks on Anuhya’s private parts, but cannot confirm rape.

The post-mortem report has also confirmed that no inflammable chemical was poured on her body after her death, as was suspected earlier from the condition in which her body was found.

Anuhya, who arrived in Mumbai after a Christmas break at home on January 5, was last seen exiting Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in Kurla. However, she never reached her hostel in Andheri West. Even as the police scanned her call records, believing initially that she had eloped with someone, her family discovered her severely decomposed body in a marshy plot off the Eastern Express Highway in Bhandup on January 18.

“We are now planning to get a DNA test of the body again,” said a GRP officer who is part of the probe team.

After spending weeks rounding up autorickshaw and taxi drivers operating at LTT, the GRP on Friday found CCTV footage from the station showing the woman walking next to a tall well-built man in his forties minutes after her train pulled in at the station. Police officers said Esther’s parents had informed them that she was wearing a dress of a different colour, but she could be seen wearing black leggings in the CCTV footage.

In the footage, the man seen with her is wearing a collared white T-shit and blue jeans. The police said the man was seen dragging Anuhya’s black suitcase behind him while she walked three feet next to him. Her body language has been described as comfortable, leading the police to believe that the man was known to Anuhya.

Anuhya is also seen talking on a mobile phone in the CCTV footage. However, call data records of her phone have confirmed she did made any calls at the time, leading investigators to believe she had another phone or was using a phone belonging to the man seen walking with her.